Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 1:10 AM ET

QUIK max pain

Spot (delayed)$12.56
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$8-36.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.35±58.5% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.1042 puts / 421 calls
Call wall$14largest call OI
Put wall$8largest put OI
IV3087.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$6-52.2%5d
Fri, Sep 18$12-4.5%33d
Fri, Nov 20$12-4.5%96d
Fri, Feb 19$8-36.3%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot83813192429$1M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 8 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot83813162026298298
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QUIK open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 19.

Open-interest change — building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration — the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot8381316202655
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot3813192429137%90%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 102.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 73813162026+$2K$2K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.0030.00510.01-0.00-0.04
0.94-0.0050.01140.01-0.00-0.06
0.89-0.0070.02120.02-0.00-0.11
0.85-0.0180.02700.02-0.01-0.15
0.77-0.01100.03770.03-0.01-0.24
0.67-0.01120.04480.03-0.01-0.34
0.63-0.01130.04680.04-0.01-0.38
0.58-0.01140.04800.04-0.01-0.43
0.54-0.01150.04840.04-0.01-0.47
0.50-0.01160.04830.04-0.01-0.51
0.47-0.01170.04780.04-0.01-0.55
0.44-0.01180.04700.04-0.01-0.58
0.38-0.01200.04480.04-0.01-0.64
0.36-0.01210.04350.03-0.01-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot19152127362K0
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot17131925312K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 1K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: QUIK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk